By JONAS TERRADO
National Football League-quarterback-turned Minor League baseball player Tim Tebow will play for the Philippine national baseball team in next month’s 2021 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers.
Tebow confirmed his decision to suit up for the Philippines after playing for the New York Mets in a 4-2 loss to the Houston Astros in a spring training game in Port St. Lucie, Florida where he struck out but reached base in his only at-bat.
“To be able to represent them will be really cool – really, really cool,” Tebow said as quoted by Mets beat writer Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “You don’t get a lot of chances to represent people or places that mean something to you.”
Tebow is eligible to play for the Philippines under WBC since he was born in Makati City to American missionaries in 1987.
The WBC allows players to represent nations where they are born, one of the less-stringent rules of the competition as compared to the strict regulations imposed like in the Olympics and by basketball governing body FIBA.
Philippine Amateur Baseball Association president Chito Loyzaga said they contacted Tebow with help from Major League Baseball about the possibility of representing the country in the Qualifiers slated March 20 to 25 in Tuczon, Arizona.
The Philippines is in Pool 2 along with Czech Republic, Spain, New Zealand, and Panama in a double-elimination format. The Nationals open their campaign on March 20 against Czech Republic.
“PABA reached out to him through the assistance of MLB and its baseball network,” Loyzaga said.
Tebow became a familiar figure after winning the prestigious Heisman Trophy award in 2007 while playing quarterback for the Florida Gators in the US NCAA.
He also played for four NFL teams, including a stirring performance for the Denver Broncos during the 2011 season.
Tebow made the switch to baseball in 2016 where he has spent the past five seasons in the Minor Leagues, including last season for the Mets’ Triple A affiliate Syracuse Mets.